Fox's Shadow
by Cypren Uzumaki
Summary: Meet Uzumaki Naruto. An idiotic, prank loving child. Meet Uzumaki Tanira. A mega-introvert, hidden child. They've lived alone all of their lives; their entire village appears to despise them, throw insults and hurt them. Naruto's able to handle it, but Tanira's cracking. She will start to long for the crack of the villagers' bones beneath her hands. She longs to destroy the world.
1. Prologue

**Prologue: Life as Tanira**

"Wait for me, Naruto!" yelled a little girl, probably no older than eight, who was chasing after a blond-haired boy that looked around ten.

"I can't Tanira! I have to go to the Academy! It is my first day of school, and I'm not allowed to miss it. I'll see you at home, okay?" the boy, who had responded to the name Naruto, called back to the girl before disappearing around the corner.

Tanira stood in the middle of the gathering street, eyes wide, staring after Naruto. "Bye bye big brother. Come home soon, please. I get scared when you aren't there to protect me from the mean people." She whispered before shaking her head, wiping her face free of tears and running back home.

She weaved quickly through the mass of people as she made her way to her house, making sure she avoided every person there, so as not to annoy them or cause them to drop what they were carrying.

Tanira eventually stopped in front of an apartment complex and jumped up the winding stairs, as each step was slightly too high for the girl to run up with ease. After several minutes of jumping up the stairs, she reached the top floor of the complex and burst through the nearest door.

She stumbled inside and fell to her knees, scraping them against the slightly dusty wooden floorboards. Holding in tears that most girls her age would have shed, she carefully examined her injuries and then cupped her hands gently over both knees before taking a deep, steady breath and closing her eyes.

She scrunched her nose and frowned in deep concentration, and her small hands soon began to glow a bright, vivid green. Tanira opened her eyes and watched in fascination as her scrapes began to scab over, and then completely disappear, leaving her healed and feeling oddly both refreshed and tired.

Tanira stood up on slightly shaky legs and realised she felt no more pain in her knees; she smiled widely and giggled. Watching the nurses at the Konoha hospital treating her brother, she had quickly learned how to create the same green glow and she was happy it had worked; scraped knees were a nuisance.

It was quite simple really, she thought. She didn't see why the medics had to train for years to produce the same green glow she had on her very first attempt.

Tanira shrugged and walked over to one of the two pieces of furniture in the room, and sat down on the bed with a sigh. This was going to be a very long day without her hyper brother to keep her company.

The girl was as much of an introvert as her brother was an extrovert. Whenever his friends Kiba, Choji and Shikamaru came to visit, she would hide under the bed until the late afternoon, which was when their parents often came to pick them up.

To her dismay, sometimes they came over for a sleepover. She didn't like those days. She would be forced to hide under the bed for nearly the entire, and sleep there overnight. After the second time this happened, she moved food that wouldn't go stale, a spare blanket and her pillow under there so she was all set for those days.

Soon she began to move the few books, scrolls of blank paper and writing utensils under the bed as she got very bored. It became so that every night Tanira would sleep under the bed, and Naruto would sleep on the bed itself. Her brother had argued with Tanira several times, calling the situation very unfair, and that she should sleep on the bed like she used too.

But whilst Naruto was stubborn, Tanira was even more so. If he ever moved her things from under the bed, she would just move them back. If he hid them, she quickly found them and all their arguments ended with Naruto going into the kitchen to make ramen, and Tanira sneaking back under the bed.

She had a feeling Naruto would be bringing his friends over for another sleepover, considering that this was a very special day for him. So she got off the bed and walked into the kitchen, opening several cupboards and pulling out various foods that she wanted for her dinner and breakfast.

Tanira shoved them under the bed and then turned on the only other piece of furniture in the room; the television. Naruto had found it and the remote belonging to it in a dump nearby and had carted it back to their apartment, only to groan when he discovered that it didn't turn on.

Tanira had taken one look at it and proceeded to fix the set in under ten minutes. When Naruto asked how, she had just shrugged and said she once saw someone fix something similar. Naruto shook his head in amazement and hugged his sister, who was six at the time, tightly.

"You're amazing, Tani. Don't let those mean people tell you otherwise. You're smart, and cool, and a great sis." Naruto muttered, stroking Tanira's soft strawberry blonde hair. She smiled at her big brother.

"You know, you're pretty cool too, Naruto; for a big brother, I mean. You're still lame. But as a person you're funny and nice." Tanira replied and Naruto laughed loudly.

"Sure thing, Tani. Sure thing."

Tanira sighed as she switched between two equally boring shows; 'Konoha News' and 'Cooking with Kenzo!'. Kenzo was going through how to make octopus balls, and Konoha News had just finished talking about the missions that various ninjas had gone on.

Tanira was about to turn off the television when Emi, the news presenter, started talking about the Academy. Curious, Tanira turned up the volume and listened intently, curious to see why they were talking about the Academy.

"—received eight new students today. One of them is the infamous nine-tailed Jinchūriki, Uzumaki Naruto. " Emi reported, and footage of the inside of one of the Academy classrooms was shown; zoomed in on a certain spiky, blond-haired boy, who was at that time setting up what appeared to be a whoopee cushion on the sensei's chair.

Tanira sighed in disappointment at the footage, and in apprehension regarding what Emi was saying. With a shake of her head, she turned her attention back to the television, where they were currently interviewing the sensei just outside of the classroom.

" So, Umino Iruka, is it?" Emi asked the sensei.

"Emi. I trained you when you were at the academy. Surely you'd remember my name, even though it's been a couple of years!" he replied, laughing heartily. Emi's cheeks turned a deep, embarrassed red before regaining her composure and reading what Tanira presumed was the interview questions on Emi's clipboard.

"Iruka, how promising are the eight new students?"

"Most of them appear very promising. I'm sure we'll see some Jōnins from this group in just a few short years."

"Who doesn't show that promise? You said only most of them do."

"There's only one that doesn't show promise, which isn't unusual in itself, as there is always one or two that have to repeat their Academy year. What's unusual is that the student is the Jinchūriki, Naruto!" the reporter gave a small gasp.

"The Uzumaki kid? How is he failing? The Jinchūriki is supposed to be very powerful…"

"That's the thing. There doesn't seem to be anything overly special about this kid. I mean—"

Tanira turned off the television before she heard more about how terrible her big brother was at the Academy. She could guess what was happening. Whenever his friends came over, he had the arrogance of showing and teaching them his own jutsu; the "sexy" jutsu.

Now that he was at the Academy, he would start showing off his jutsu there, too, which obviously was getting him in a heap of trouble. This was only the first day, too. Tanira didn't want to imagine what the rest of the year was going to be like for Naruto, his classmates and the poor sensei.

_Only two more years, and then I'll be at the Academy, too, and Naruto will be a chūnin… Won't he? He can teach me everything he knows, and then I'll be the most powerful Academy student there! Especially if I'm able to absorb the jutsus like I did with the medical nin. _Tanira smiled widely at the thought and went off to reread one of her five precious books as she waited for her brother to get home.

Tanira sprinted up to the red building that was the Academy with her fingers crossed, desperately hoping that her brother passed the final examination and was now a genin. She weaved unnoticed through a sea of children with leaf headbands being congratulated by their friends and family, trying to find her brother.

She eventually came across Naruto sitting alone on a nearby swing, kicking the dirt under his feet in despair and annoyance. Tanira saw no headband on him, and from his body language and actions, she figured that he didn't pass the examination.

"Naruto?" Tanira approached her brother slowly, waiting for some sort of response.

Suddenly she was grabbed into a fierce hug. Laughing softly, she wrapped her arms as tight as she could around Naruto and rubbed his back as his body shook from his sobs.

"I didn't make it. Tani, I didn't pass. I'm no closer to being Hokage than I was at the start of the year. I haven't learned anything at all!" he sobbed, and I sighed quietly. He'd said things like this before, things that were very unlike Naruto.

"Shh… It's okay, Naruto. This just means it will take a year longer until you're the Hokage, right? A year to grow stronger and more powerful; a year to become recognised as the great, spirited person you are. You'll graduate, Naruto. And then you'll be chūnin before you know it. Crying isn't going to get you there, so just keep trying, all right? You'll make it." Tanira comforted her brother, the sobs slowly ceased, and soon Naruto was laughing quietly.

"Thanks so much Tanira. I needed that. I love you sis."

"I love you too, big brother."


	2. Starting at the Academy

**Chapter One: Starting at the Academy**

**A/N: I know I said on my profile that I was only going to update every fortnight, but I can't wait that long. I want to get my finished eight chapters up and then write some more.  
**

**This hasn't been beta-ed and I haven't proof read it, so I apologise for the poor grammar construction, spelling and stroyline.  
**

**And please, no more flames. Even if what the person (whose name I shall not write) said was not true, it's not nice to read stuff like that. Thank you.  
**

"But I don't want to wear this, Nar-Nar! I look ridiculous!" Tanira complained as she pushed Naruto's pair of goggles off her head, letting them drop to the floor. "I just want to wear what I want! Please, big brother. It's my first day, and I don't want to attract the wrong sort of attention." She continued to grumble.

Naruto laughed affectionately and patted Tanira on the head. He picked up the pair of goggles and shoved them back onto his own head.

"Fine, little sis. You don't have to wear them if you don't want to. But I personally think you look adorable in them." He smiled his iconic smile and gently pushed Tanira towards the apartment entrance, where the door was wide open.

"Alright, alright, I'm going, I'm going! Just relax. I'm not going to make you late!" Tanira exclaimed between gasps of laughter and raced down the nearby staircase once they got outside.

"She seems just a little excited for her first day of school. I'm sure she'll grow tired of it by next week." With one last glance around the apartment, he locked the door and made sure that it was closed. Coming home to a robbed apartment was never enjoyable.

Another rather unenjoyable thing was being in the Academy for the third time. Only a small handful of ninjas had to go through the Academy more than once, and none of them went onto Jōnin level. In fact, most of them never even made it to Chūnin level, let alone to the Hokage rank that Naruto desperately wanted.

The future didn't look bright for Naruto. He could only hope that Tanira had not inherited his… unsatisfactory skills.

Tanira stared up with an open mouth at the large red building that was known as the Konoha ninja Academy. Today was her first day of being a ninja, and she didn't want to screw it up. She looked around and noticed that only a few people were there; a couple families who were surrounding their children, giving them hugs and kisses and words of encouragement, comforting the nervous children and calming the too-eager ones.

Tanira had never felt more jealous and alone in her life. Why did her parents have to protect the village from the cursed demon that currently resided in Naruto? Why couldn't someone else have saved the day? It wasn't fair in the slightest and it made Tanira furious.

Naruto appeared suddenly by Tanira's side and he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"You ready kid? We're about to face one of the biggest obstacles of our life; so just believe in yourself. We'll both make it this year for sure. And, I'd like you to meet my friends…" Tanira silently groaned as three boys approached the siblings.

"Hey, I'm Choji." introduced a big boy who was devouring a packet of chips. I smiled and nodded hello.

"Hey! I'm Kiba, and this is Akamaru! It's cool to meet ya, Tani! Can I call you that? Tani?" the bouncing boy with symbolic red marks on his face yelled excitedly, a small white dog yapping beside him.

"I'd rather you just called me Tanira. Sorry. Only Naruto can call me Tani." Tanira shrugged apologetically and turned to the boy who hadn't introduced himself yet.

"Oh. Shikamaru. Hello." he said, an air of laziness about him. His attitude seemed completely different to Kiba's. It was quite curious how they were complete opposites, but still best friends. It reminded her a bit of Tanira's brother and herself.

She waved hello to Shikamaru and Naruto smiled widely, before patting Tanira's head and running off with his three best friends. Tanira wondered how he got the friends in the first place; the whole village seemed to hate him, always glaring, saying mean words, glancing at him at whispering to the people closest to them…

It irked Tanira. Konoha has no business hating on Naruto; it wasn't his fault he was a Jinchūriki! But everyone just pushed him down and if he didn't have his spirited personality, he would have surely crumbled by now, leaving Konoha in serious danger.

Half an hour later the place was crowded with families saying goodbye to their children, as the Academy's doors had just been opened by the sensei Tanira had seen on the television two years ago, giving an interview. He raised his hands and the crowd fell silent.

"Hello everyone! My name is Iruka and I'll be your sensei for the rest of your time at the Academy. I want all family members and friends who aren't the Academy students to say goodbye now, as I need to get this day started." He said, and the crowd slowly dispersed, leaving a handful of children watching Iruka, waiting for instructions.

Iruka smiled and started walking back into the building, beckoning the children to follow him. Tanira, Naruto and his friends followed at the back and whilst Tanira was walking silently and observing the other new students, Naruto was chatting loudly with his friends, patting them on the back and laughing whenever they said something amusing.

The other students looked behind them way more than once; Naruto was excellent at drawing attention, whether he wanted it or not. Tanira shook her head and spaced herself away from them to around the middle of the group, keeping her anonymity.

The group stopped in front of a classroom door and Iruka opened it wide. "Go in and find a seat wherever you like, okay?" the children rushed in in an attempt to find the 'best seats'. Tanira walked in and observed the classroom, trying to find a seat that wouldn't cause her too much attention.

She couldn't sit at the back, as the sensei always kept an eye on them, believing they were the troublemakers. She also couldn't sit at the front, because the sensei would ask those students to do the most, as he'd expect them to be the most willing to learn.

So Tanira found a nice spot on one side of the classroom in the middle row. She looked at the items that had been put on the desk in front of her. There were two empty school books, an ink pot and pen, and three books.

She picked up the first of the three books. It appeared to be about Taijutsu, judging from the many pictures of hand-to-hand combat and chapter names such as 'Roundhouse Kick' and 'Knifehand Strike'.

Tanira set the book down and picked up the second book. The cover was of the first Hokage using his Wood jutsu. Tanira scanned quickly through the book and noted that it was the Ninjutsu book. It talked a lot about Chakra control, which she had mastered on her fifth birthday and had spent many of her days walking upside down on the ceiling.

She looked at the third book in interest. Tanira was expecting something akin to Genjutsu, but instead she was faced with the laws for ninjas around the world, what was expected and what ranks there were, among other things. There was even a section that briefly talked about original jutsus, that a ninja created by himself.

"Good morning, students." Iruka called the class to attention.

"Good morning Iruka-sensei." They murmured back. What enthusiasm these kids had. Well Tanira was sure that would be fixed soon enough, especially when they got to the practical section of the Academy curriculum.

"Since I don't know most of you, I'd like to start off by going around the room and I want you to say your name, age and favourite activities, okay? Far right at the back, you can start."

A girl with long blonde hair stood up and smiled. "Hi everybody, my name is Yamanaka Ino, I am twelve years old, and I love to daydream and collect flowers for my mother's store." She flitted her gaze very briefly to a boy Tanira thought to be Sasuke when she mentioned daydreaming.

Iruka nodded and looked to Tanira. "The girl in front of Ino, please." Tanira sighed silently and stood up, a smile fixated on her face.

"Hello. My name is Tanira, I am ten, and I read every chance I get." She waved a little and sat back down.

"Tanira… You're Naruto's sister, am I right?" Iruka asked, looking at a clipboard which had previously been on the table behind him. Everyone turned to face Tanira, surprise on most of their faces. The majority of them didn't even know the Jinchūriki had a relative of any sort, and the ones who did had never seen Tanira before.

"Yes, I am." She nodded briskly and Iruka imperceptibly sighed and rolled his eyes, probably assuming Tanira would be just like her brother. How wrong he was. He nodded to the girl in front of Tanira and she shyly stood up.

"h-hi, I'm Hyūga H-Hinata, I'm t-twelve years o-old, and, uh, I like p-pressing flowers…" she trailed off, scratched her head and slowly sat back down. Goodness, what a shy girl. She better get over that or she'll be hopeless, Tanira thought, shaking her head subtly.

"Hello. Okay, the young lady in front of me, you can stand up." a girl with long pink hair practically jumped up and started speaking straight away.

"Good morning fellow classmates, Iruka-sensei. My name is Haruno Sakura and I am twelve years old. My favourite activities include drawing," she looked over to Sasuke and giggled, "and asking questions about many things."

Iruka smiled and looked at Naruto, his smile already disappearing. "Go ahead, I guess…" he muttered and Naruto jumped up and readjusted his goggles.

"I'm Naruto and I'm twelve and I love pulling pranks and hanging out with my friends and playing with my sister and talking about being Hokage because I know I'm going to be Hokage one day, believe it! Oh, and hi." He waved furiously and fell to his seat again. Tanira shook her head and sighed, and so did Iruka-Sensei.

"It's your third year in the Academy, Naruto. You'll be lucky to make it out of the Academy at this rate." he muttered quietly enough so that only he and Tanira heard what he said. "Well, alright then. The kid behind Naruto, go."

Shikamaru huffed and stood up. "Shikamaru. Twelve. Sleeping." and then sat back down. "Too much effort." He drawled quietly to Kiba, who was sitting next to him. Kiba laughed and nodded. "Well if you say so, Shikamaru."

Needing no introduction, Kiba picked up Akamaru and stood. "Hey guys. The name's Inuzuka Kiba, I'm twelve, and this is my pal Akamaru," his dog barked and started panting, wagging its tail excitedly. "I'm from the Inuzuka clan which means he's my pal forever. We spend all our time together and we've already learnt some Ninjutsu." Kiba boasted and Tanira rolled her eyes.

"The boy in front of Kiba, your turn." Iruka called, and the big boy Tanira remembered was called Choji stood up, an open bag of food in his hands.

"Hey. Choji here, twelve years old and in the flesh –"

"More like in the fat!" Ino whispered to herself and chuckled. Tanira frowned before turning her attention back to Choji.

"—eating at Ichiraku Ramen." He bowed his head and sat back down, rummaging in his bag and pulling out another bag of chips.

"Boy next to Sakura, go." Iruka motioned. The boy didn't even stand up; he just turned a little to face the rest of the students, glaring at them through his sunglasses.

"My name is Aburame Shino. I am twelve, and I like everything about bugs; they're very fascinating creatures." The class seemed to shiver a little at the mention of bugs, but the Aburame boy didn't seem to notice, and just turned around to face the front of the class again.

"Creepy kid, that one." Ino whispered again, and Tanira felt her hatred for this girl growing stronger, especially when the last person stood up and Sakura and Ino squealed in adoration.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, and I am twelve years old, unfortunately. My only goal in life is to get revenge for my clan." The room was silent; everybody had hoped to find out how the Uchiha clan all disappeared in the first place.

Even Tanira was curious. It wasn't everyday a whole clan was wiped out, and especially not such a powerful one. So she decided to make it her goal to find out why Sasuke was the only one left, and how they all perished.

"Good, good. Now we've gotten to know everyone a bit better, I'm going to start us off with a test," the kids in the class started groaning, but Iruka-sensei held up his hand for silence and continued. "Which you will do so I can see how far along everybody is with various jutsus.

"By the end of the year, I want you all to be able to successfully execute three ninjutsus. I have decided to go through you alphabetically, which means you're up first, Shino. Please follow me. No misbehaving, class! I'll know if you do."

And with that, Iruka and the Aburame left. For once Tanira was glad her name was Uzumaki; she had a chance to prepare for the test and not get caught off-guard when her name's called. All she had to do now was wait.

**A/N: Please review! I hope you liked the chapter, and expect the next one between a couple of days and about a week. Assuming I remember I've uploaded it o.O**


	3. The Tests

**Chapter Two: The Tests**

Shino came back into the room looking completely drained, which wasn't a good sign. He walked up to Kiba and they had a brief conversation which was out of ear shot, before Kiba waved to his friends, picked up Akamaru and left the room. One down, nine to go.

Tanira went through the hand signs for various ninjutsus; the clone technique went ram, snake, and then tiger. The replacement technique went ram, boar, dog, ox, and then snake. The transformation technique went dog, boar, and then ram. The summoning technique was boar, dog, bird, monkey, and then ram.

The classroom door opened and Kiba walked in, Akamaru padding by his feet, both looking a little subdued. They went up to the shy girl and Tanira watched her stutter as she attempted to talk with the boy.

He laughed a little, patted her on the head, and waved to Tanira as he walked back to his seat. Hinata got up and left the room trembling. Tanira hoped the girl would be alright when she came back.

Tanira was confident. She had mastered every jutsu she had come across but the clan-inherited ones. It was a little difficult to use the sharingan and Byakugan, for example, when she did not possess the eyes.

Deciding to accomplish her goal she had recently set, Tanira stood up, walked over to Sasuke and sat behind him. If he had seen her approach, which she was certain he had, Sasuke didn't do or say anything. He appeared immersed in one of the books, but Tanira couldn't tell which one it was.

"Uh, Sasuke, right?" she asked, and he slowly closed the book and turned around to face her.

"Yes. Have you come to gawk at me too, like pink freak and miss snotty did earlier? Or has someone actually recognised me as a human being?" he replied coldy, which would've caused most people to shiver and back off. But Tanira was determined to get to the bottom of the Uchiha disaster.

"I haven't come to gawk at you. So, Sasuke…"

His brother Itachi had killed the entire clan. That's amazing. The amount of power he would've possessed in order to destroy perhaps the most powerful clan in the Land of Fire would have been absolutely immense.

What was Itachi's motive? You don't just go kill your entire clan just because you felt like it. There had to some reason why he did it. Tanira figured he either greatly despised his home and family, or someone else did, and acted through him.

Maybe it was a test of some sort, and if it was such a test, who would give the orders? Why would Itachi be absolutely yearning to pass this test? There were too many unknowns. There were too many variables on why he did what he did.

Whatever his motive was, it was obvious he left his brother alive on purpose; despite Sasuke telling the story where he had to sneak out of the Uchiha village, Tanira had a feeling he was pardoned from death for some unknown reason; lucky for Sasuke.

Tanira was deep in her thoughts and didn't notice when Naruto came trudging up to her, panting slightly. He had to shake her for Tanira to slip from her trance-like state and listen to him.

"Hey Tanira, you're up. Go out of the classroom and into the one right next door. The test is to take a kunai that's stuck in the ceiling, and then if you fail that, which everyone does, you have to fight Iruka. He'll guide you along a bit in the fight, so don't worry about what to do. He won't hurt you." Naruto explained and then gave Tanira a pat on the head and a thumbs up.

"Believe it!" Tanira rolled her eyes at Naruto's goofy expression, before standing up, smoothing her outfit and walking confidently out of the room. If all she had to do was get a kunai from the ceiling, she was going to ace the test.

Once Tanira was out of the classroom, she looked to her left and saw Iruka standing in the doorway of the classroom next door. He motioned with his hand and she followed him inside. When she entered she saw that the classroom's tables had been pushed against the wall and Iruka-sensei was standing in the middle of the room, smiling.

"So here's the test. Do you see that kunai up there above me?" he pointed upwards, and Tanira's attention switched to the ceiling. There was indeed a kunai, and it looked like it hadn't been touched in years. She nodded and turned her gaze back to Iruka.

"I want you to get it for me."

"How, Iruka-sensei?" Tanira asked, not wanting to break any unspoken rules or anything, and making sure that using chakra was allowed.

"However you like. Just to let you know, no one has gotten that kunai except the fourth Hokage, Minato, who was a dear friend of mine. That was a very long time ago, anyway. So, you can go ahead and try to get it, alright?" Iruka-sensei replied, smiling fondly when he mentioned Tanira and Naruto's father.

Tanira took a deep breath and closed her eyes, focusing on her chakra and bringing it to the bottom of her feet as she walked towards the edge of the room. She could feel Iruka watching her intently, and she gathered up the small amount of chakra she required and put a foot on the wall.

She smiled a little when she heard Iruka-sensei give a tiny, barely audible gasp as he realised what she was doing. She placed her other foot on the wall and started walking up. Soon she reached the part of the wall that connected with the ceiling.

Iruka watched in absolute fascination and adoration at the miracle occurring in front of him. He had never witnessed, in his many years of teaching at the Academy, a student getting the kunai, and on their first day, too? This was remarkable; absolutely awe-worthy.

Tanira was shortly standing next to the kunai. She crouched and with one hand wrapped loosely around the blade, tugged it free and jumped down from the ceiling, landing in a perfect ninja's crouch. She slowly stood back up and handed Iruka-sensei the kunai, neither smiling nor frowning.

"Did I pass the test?" she asked, knowing full well that she did. She felt a touch cocky and proud of herself. Iruka laughed and motioned her out the room.

"Yes, of course you passed. Now, can you go back inside and tell Ino to come here? I just need to go and put this back in the ceiling." Iruka asked, and Tanira nodded briskly, walking back inside her classroom.

She was simply extraordinary, and Iruka knew that Tanira was going to do great things. It made him wonder why Naruto messed around so much and had such little ninja ability, whilst his little sister was clearly so much more powerful than perhaps even Iruka himself, and also destined for great things.

Tanira walked calmly up to the blonde-haired girl who was busy staring absent-mindedly at Sasuke. She subtly rolled her eyes and tapped Ino on the shoulder. Ino jumped and glared at Tanira.

"What do you want? Can't you see I was busy? Leave me alone!" she grumbled and continued to glare at Tanira, but Tanira was unfazed.

"uh… Go out of the room and if you look left you'll see Iruka standing in a classroom doorway." Tanira instructed before going back to her seat. Ino stared at Tanira wide-eyed before getting up and quickly leaving the room, muttering under her breath.

Only a couple seconds after Tanira sat down, Naruto was next to her, sitting on the table and swinging his legs. It appeared that his exhaustion didn't last long.

"How'd you go? Did you get the jutsus down? Did he go easy on you? How long did you last? What did he say after he fought you?" Naruto jumped straight into his questions and Tanira had to refrain from snapping at him. Sometimes her brother was so annoying.

"I…" Tanira paused. Somehow she didn't feel like telling her brother that she got the kunai from the ceiling. Maybe it was because she didn't want to upset him, or maybe because of something else; Tanira really didn't know. "I went okay. He was a little tough, though."

"It's okay, Tanira. Remember that he said the last person to get that kunai was the Fourth Hokage! You know how powerful he was. You've heard stories about him. Just letting you know, we don't have to try and get the kunai ever again, so you can rest easy.

"You'll get it eventually though, I'm sure. We'll both get that blade and we'll be unstoppable and people will just have to respect us and acknowledge us. Especially when I'm Hokage, and you're my trusted assistant and closest friend." Naruto started blabbering on about how unstoppable they'll be.

Then he started talking about his wife, Sakura. Tanira rolled her eyes again. So it was Sakura that Naruto had a crush on this year. Fingers crossed that when they graduated, poor Sakura wouldn't get stuck in the same team as Tanira's brother.

About ten minutes later, Iruka and a very tired-looking Ino entered the classroom. Ino gave a nod to Iruka-sensei and walked back to her seat, whilst Iruka went back to the front of the classroom.

"Now that that's over, I know exactly where to start this year. I just have to say, I was very pleased to see that every single one of you had at least some mastery of your chakra, and you all knew at least one jutsu. What we'll be working on for the first month will be perfecting your chakra control.

"So now we are up to the second segment of the test; the physical test. I will take everybody outside and we will have two competitions. I will explain more when we get outside, so everybody get up and form a single line, please." Iruka instructed.

A buzz filled the room as the ten students got up and went over to the classroom door, talking excitedly. Tanira stayed silent, observing the other students carefully. Sasuke was the only other person doing the same, and they locked gazes, staring each other down.

Sasuke was the first to break, but that was only because Sakura had practically screeched his name. Narrowing his eyes, he turned his attention to Sakura so he could annoy her, which seemed to please him greatly, watching her struggle on what to say.

Everyone followed Iruka out the door and down the hall, back towards the entrance of the Academy. The doors swung wide open and Iruka-sensei led them to a clearing nearby which was surrounded by dead trees that had targets hanging from them.

"The first challenge will be to get a bullseye on these three targets. I will give you four kunai for the three targets, okay? No more, and you don't have to use the extra kunai if you don't need to. So, let's go for something different this time. Ino, you're first up."

Ino stared at Iruka-sensei in shock, having clearly expected to be last again. She straightened her shoulders, took the kunai from Iruka and threw the four individually. The target closest to Ino had a kunai in the bullseye; the farthest target had been missed completely however, and the target between the two had two kunai lodged in it, neither particularly close to the bullseye.

With a nod from Iruka, Ino walked down to the targets, grabbed the kunai, and jogged back, handing them to Iruka-sensei. Tanira meanwhile quelled the butterflies in her stomach; this was going to be new to her, and she didn't really know what to do.

Tanira stepped up, took the four kunai from Iruka and studied them briefly. They appeared to just be a normal throwing knife that was also usable for hand to hand combat. The weight was tipped towards the point of the short diamond-shaped blade, and the handle was long and wrapped in leather for an easy grip.

Tanira gripped the first kunai and aimed it carefully at the closest target. Just as she was about to throw, some instinct inside her told her to angle it just a little touch higher, and to flick her wrist less than she did with her throwing knives back in the apartment.

She knew it would hit the bullseye the second it left her hand. It glided smoothly through the air, curved down a touch and landed with a powerful smack in the very middle of the target. The corners of her mouth twisted up a tiny amount; all of her hard work practising with her own kunai was paying off.

She decided to aim for the furthest target next. Breathing carefully, she listened to her instinct and soon there was another, slightly quieter thud as it too hit in the middle of the bullseye. Tanira could now practically feel everybody's eyes on her.

She knew she shouldn't get a bullseye for the last target. She can't look perfect in front of the group. Tanira didn't know why, but that same instinct that told her how to throw the kunai was now telling her it would be better to hide her skills and not show off.

So with that, she aimed the kunai a little too low and watched in satisfaction as it hit several centimetres from the bullseye. Tanira pretended to be upset and looked at the fourth kunai. She made sure to aim a little too high this time, and wasn't disappointed when it too missed the bullseye.

Which a small shake of her head that the others would take as deep disappointment, she ran over to the targets and yanked out the four kunai, ran back to Iruka and made sure to avoid his gaze. She was sure Iruka knew Tanira had missed the last target on purpose.

She was going to have to be more careful if she was going to hide her abilities from now on.


	4. Tanira is All Alone

**A/N: I have writers block, so I went ahead and posted the next chapter while I wait for inspiration to come -_-**

**Enjoy the chapter, and I'll update again soon! (hopefully . . . .)**

**Chapter Three: Tanira is All Alone**

It turns out Sasuke won the kunai throwing competition. He managed to hit all three bullseyes, but he had to use all of the kunai to do so. Tanira had to restrain herself from laughing uproariously at Sasuke's boasting, proud face that said to everyone, 'I'm clearly better than you'. Oh, the poor kid. How little he really knew.

Shortly after that, Iruka taught the class the three very basic ninjutsu techniques that were to be assessed for their final Academy exam at the end of the year. Since Tanira had done these all before, she once again had to pretend to be struggling with them, because no one got any of the jutsus down for the rest of the day.

Weeks passed by and eventually people caught onto the jutsus. In the second month of the Academy, the students were taught how to properly control their chakra and focus it into specific points, namely their hands and feet, to do certain tasks.

Iruka demonstrated controlling chakra by walking up the wall, up a tree, and later, across a nearby river. It was amazing to behold for all who hadn't seen it before; Tanira was just bored. Iruka let the class have a go at walking up a tree, but no one got it until far in the evening, when Sakura finally managed to hang upside down on one of the low-hanging branches.

She was praised heavily by everyone, although Tanira was secretly rolling her eyes and disliking Sakura. What an attention-seeking pink girl. She didn't know the meaning of effort, or loneliness. She craved attention, not unlike Naruto actually.

Tanira could see why her brother liked Sakura, in a roundabout way. Despite what Sakura protested, they were at least a little similar, especially in their determination and hotheadedness. Although when Tanira was observing the class, she noted one particular child who always kept one eye on Naruto.

Hinata had always been a stuttering idiot, but this annoying trait increased much further whenever Naruto was in her presence. Increasingly more often, her cheeks became a very dark red and once, when Naruto brushed past her in his usual attempt to get out of the classroom first, she actually fainted.

It was clear Hinata liked the arrogant boy. Why, Tanira had absolutely no clue, whatsoever. It was a complete and utter mystery why anyone would fall in love with her brother.

But he was always surrounded by friends and having a laugh. Tanira sometimes felt a strange emotion creeping around somewhere between her throat and stomach, whenever she watched her brother mess around with his friends.

Tanira later identified this feeling as loneliness. She had no friends, being the extreme introvert she was. It had rarely bothered her before, but it really hit on her birthday. No one had known, which was fair enough, as she'd never told anyone her birthday except for her brother.

But even Naruto didn't remember. He had remembered every other year, but on the day of her birthday he had bludged school with his three best friends, and he didn't return to the apartment until six at night, where he was met with a lonely looking Tanira eating a cupcake she had made herself, a little red birthday candle on the table next to her. He had finally realised what the day was and practically cried his apologies. That was probably also the day Tanira started to hate her brother.

She started to feel more and more irritated when Naruto mucked around in class; she got more and more angry with him each time he failed the techniques.

The next time he bludged school after her birthday, she got so mad at him that every kunai she threw that day got lodged in the targets twice as deep as usual. Tanira knew something was wrong with her, but she didn't know what, and eventually that thought got pushed to the back of her mind to be replaced with something a bit darker.

It was the holidays, and next month when they returned to school, they'd start taking the final exams. Tanira wasn't very nervous, but some of the frantic energy that was exploding from Naruto got to her, and she actually stuffed up her throw when she was practising.

Tanira immediately packed the weapons away and went off to a secluded spot to meditate and clear her mind. Stupid Naruto had indirectly made her screw up. She shook her head and continued to meditate.

Tanira went back inside at dusk and saw Naruto heating up some Ramen. He smiled and waved her over.

"Hey, Tani! Come and sit down, I'm just getting dinner ready. Then we can go watch a movie if you'd like. I promised you that I was going to spend time with you these holidays, and I don't break my promises or go back on my word, because that's my nindo; my ninja way!"

Tanira frowned at Naruto's over-emotional speech. All he was going to do was make her dinner maybe three times in the holidays, watch one movie with her and then proceed to fall asleep halfway through the film.

But Tanira was okay with it. She really was. Besides, although she would never tell Naruto, Tanira loved it when he didn't cook, because she wasn't really that much a fan of Ramen. She much preferred things like fried rice.

Naruto set a steaming bowl of ramen in front of Tanira, smiling. She smiled briefly back before digging in. Naruto shortly joined her with his own bowl of ramen, and he scoffed it all down in just a couple seconds.

He then just sat there while Tanira slowly finished her meal. Always staring and watching her; that also annoyed Tanira. He was always so protective over her, and it annoyed her to no end. She gulped down the last noodle and Naruto jumped up, took both of the bowls away and started humming as he washed up.

Tanira hopped down from the table and decided to go choose a movie out of the four that they had. She settled for one about the Third Shinobi World War and put it into the DVD player and pressed play.

It must have been a record for Naruto; he had fallen asleep watching it just ten minutes in. Tanira felt increasingly mad at her brother, but she should've been used to it by now; he'd been doing this for as far back as she can remember.

'But it was never this bad.' a small voice in her head warned. Tanira sighed; she knew it was worse this time, but she didn't know what she could to do to make her feel better. 'Punish him,' the same small voice suggested.

Tanira shook her head. No matter how annoying he was, she couldn't hurt him… Could she? At least Naruto was trying to stay awake during the films. Maybe he just fell asleep because they'd seen the movie so often.

Tanira heard a couple people climbing up the stairs. What she was expecting was for them to walk right past their apartment to go to their own, so Tanira jumped a little when there was a loud knock on the door.

She went over to the door and opened it, before being shoved back by a brawny man. Tanira shrieked when she saw the people who entered; a brawny man, a skinny man with a pitchfork and a woman holding a short knife.

Tanira ran over to her brother and tried to shake him awake, but he was too far in his slumber to be woken up easily. Curse Naruto for being such a heavy sleeper! Tanira turned her attention back to the three villagers and narrowed her eyes.

It was clear that she would have to fight them out this time. She had only done that one time before, but she had gotten a cut that if it hadn't been healed straight away, Tanira probably would've died from.

She reached inside the jacket she was wearing, and pulled out three throwing knives. The villagers took one look at the tiny weapons she held and laughed before the woman jabbed at Tanira with her own small knife.

Tanira barely avoided the knife and felt panic rising rapidly. The woman jabbed again, only this time Tanira didn't avoid it in time and got nicked by the blade. She was about to heal the small wound, but the man swung his pitchfork at her and she had to drop to the ground to avoid it.

At this point, Tanira was almost blinded by panic. She had no idea what to do and she was in an incredibly vulnerable spot, crouching on the floor. Her terror was overwhelming her, when a little voice started instructing her.

'Jump up now and throw the first knife at the man with the pitchfork.' She obeyed and the man clutched his arm in agony, dropped the pitchfork, took one glance at the other two villagers before running outside, muttering how useless they were.

The butch man growled and charged towards Tanira. 'Step to the right, gather as much chakra as you can into your left hand and punch him in his stomach.' The voice said and Tanira was quick to follow. Soon the man was lying on the floor, clutching his stomach and groaning.

Tanira knew she was quite weak and realised that adding enough chakra to her fist caused quite a bit of pain for the man. She quickly stored this information away and observed her opponents.

Only the woman was left. She jabbed at Tanira, 'left, crouch, stab with second knife.' Tanira followed but the woman avoided the attack with ease. 'You should use some jutsu. Use the clone hand formations but say multiple shadow clones in your head.' Tanira obeyed without hesitation.

The woman stepped back a little when Tanira formed the Clone technique hand signs, and soon the apartment was filled with many Taniras. The original Tanira smiled a little. 'Now use Taijutsu group combinations with your clones.'

Soon the woman was lying on the floor next to the butch man, both of them clutching their stomachs and crying. Tanira rolled her eyes and signalled her clones to transport the invaders outside.

Done, she dismissed the other clones and turned to face Naruto, having never felt madder at him in her life. She had to protect him and risk her life while he just dozed in in wonderland, probably dreaming about kissing that stupid pink girl again.

She balled her hands into tightly curled fists and had to fight the small voice which was telling her to punch him awake. With a huff she crawled under the bed and meditated instead in a vain attempt to clear her mind. It wasn't really working.

The voice kept distracting Tanira and whispering about hundreds of things she could do to make her brother feel bad about dozing off yet again. Despite Tanira pushing the ideas to the back of her mind and eventually calming down, she fell asleep dreaming about punishing Naruto in a million ways.

It was the best sleep she had ever had and Tanira felt so refreshed when she woke up the next morning. She sniffed the air and noted that Naruto had made some breakfast; by the smell of it, it was microwaved Ramen again.

She crawled out from under the bed and walked into the kitchen, subconsciously noting that Naruto was nowhere in sight. She looked around in the kitchen for something to eat, and wasn't shocked to see that there wasn't anything to eat. It looked like she'd have to go to her first day back at school hungry again.

Tanira got changed, checked the time and frowned when she realised she was late. Some part of her however, didn't want to go to school. Some part of her told Tanira it would be better; more useful to stay home.

She wouldn't have to hide her abilities. She could practice as much as she liked and no one could gawk at her as she practiced.

Tanira needed to learn some new jutsu; so far she had only learned the basic techniques, and she really wanted to watch other ninjas, preferably some Jōnin, practice. So Tanira decided to head over to the various training fields and see if she could catch anybody working.

She looked around the room and left, shutting the door firmly behind her and descending the staircase. When she neared the bottom, she stepped onto a branch that was a bare meter away from the staircase, and soon Tanira was leaping through the trees, on her way to the closest training ground. And it appeared she was in luck. A group of four ninjas were busy hitting targets in the clearing, and so she observed them for the rest of their training, absorbing everything they did.

**A/N: I know it ended kind of weirdly. And this chapter is a bit of a filler, just explaining the back story of the Uzumaki siblings a bit more.**

**Please review!**


	5. The Final Academy Days

**Chapter Four: The Final Academy Days**

**A/N: Hello! It's the holidays for moi, so expect some faster updates with the story :3 Yay for antisocialness!**

**Anyway. Enjoy the chapter and please review! I'm not scary, I like reviews! Well... As long as they aren't flames, I like them ^_^**

Tanira sat sleepily in the Academy classroom, doodling hand signs for various jutsu on a spare piece of paper. Everyone was spending the hour revising for the final examination and nerves were high; it felt very tense in the room.

Tanira had already reviewed through everything she would need to finish the examination just enough to pass, and now she appeared bored. In reality though, her mind was racing through the large amount of jutsus that she had learned just by watching all of the ninjas in action.

'When you graduate, avoid Iruka as much as you can. He is getting suspicious.' the voice in her head, which wasn't so small anymore, instructed. She nodded mentally and silently responded; the hardest part of this examination will be dumbing it down.

'I'll need to make sure not to make a flawless clone, and most definitely not a shadow clone. That would be a horrendous mistake with a high price to pay.' The voice in her head went silent for a bit as they thought about what she just said.

'That's true. Talking about the ninja you watched over the last couple of months, it's curious to see who Iruka-sensei will group you with. After all, there are ten people here, and unless one of us fails, it will be uneven numbers.' They eventually replied.

Tanira realised what the voice was saying, and the problem that arose with it. If she so happened to be put in that group of four, the number would become awkward for the missions, because there would be five of them including the Jōnin that'd be in charge of the group.

The ideal number of Shinobi on a single mission was four and five was too many. Although, she reasoned, it would be best for the group of four to have Sasuke in it. He seemed too revenge-driven to stay in Konoha forever.

It was clear that Sasuke was going to leave the village at some point and track down his brother. Not that Sasuke would ever succeed in killing Itachi; Itachi sounded much too powerful for Sasuke, especially since Sasuke's performance in the Academy was dirt compared to Tanira's potential.

Where had Itachi gone, anyway? Even if he wasn't in the Land of Fire anymore, surely the ANBU would have found him by now. They had excellent tracking Shinobi and dogs that could pick up scents weeks old.

Perhaps no one knew that it was Itachi, apart from his brother, and the reason Sasuke told no authorities was because he didn't want them to go off and 'steal' Sasuke's revenge from him by killing Itachi. That boy was confusing by all means, and he was hardly a team player.

'Good thinking, Tanira. We can assume Sakura will be very near the top of the class, with Sasuke on the top, and Naruto on the bottom. You will need to get just below average to get into their team, then. But if that sounds like too much work you could always try out that Genjutsu you saw the other day, on Iruka-sensei.'

Of course! Last week Tanira had been spying on the Shinobi as per usual, when she had seen one of them approach the other. The other seemed angry with him, but the first Shinobi just put his fingers on his temple, stared the other Shinobi in the eyes, and then the other Shinobi fell quiet and smiled, before resuming his training and ignoring the first Shinobi.

It was quite a remarkable ability, really. It had to be powerful to manipulate a mind like that from such rage to a calm demeanour. Tanira immediately tried this technique on her brother, and smiled for the first time in a very long time when Naruto sat down with her and watched an entire movie with her.

He stayed awake the entire time and remembered enough afterwards to have a nice conversation with Tanira. At that point she was ridiculously happy, but sub-consciously still very annoyed that she had to go as far as manipulating Naruto to get him to spend time with Tanira.

She noted immediately when Iruka-sensei stepped back into the classroom, and sat up straight, quickly erasing the doodles that had turned into gruesome things, like the invaders' heads on pikes. She still hated them with a deep rooted passion and she was never going to forgive them.

"Are you ready, class?" Iruka smiled at everybody for continuing. "Okay, then! To make things quicker, everybody get out of their seats and line up out the front here, please." He stepped back a little to allow room for everyone ad they got out of their seats and lined up.

Naturally Sasuke was first. Sakura and Ino were next, obviously trying to get the best view of Sasuke performing again. Choji, Shikamaru, Kiba and Naruto were next, although they weren't really staying in line, and Akamaru kept yapping.

Tanira was next to Naruto and her brother looked at her a couple times, gave her the thumbs up and turned back to his friends. There was a bit of a gap between Tanira and Hinata, and another gap between Hinata and the last person, Shino.

She was clearly uncomfortable with people standing close to her, and Shino seemed to view himself as a bit of a social reject. Neither was talking and Hinata fidgeted a lot, while Shino kept his composure, but Tanira could practically hear the bugs racing around inside him in preparation.

"So the first jutsu that will be tested is the transformation technique. I want you all to turn into me, one at a time, and hold it as long as you can. Sasuke goes first." Iruka explained and nodded to Sasuke, who was quick to turn into an almost flawless Iruka.

Sometimes Sasuke-like details would appear, and the jaw wasn't quite right. Then the jutsu fell and he was Sasuke again.

"Go, Sakura."

She lasted longer than Sasuke, but the quality was worse. The hair still had a very pink tinge and she hadn't increased in height at all.

"Go, Ino."

Ino didn't last anywhere near as long as Sakura or Sasuke, but the transformation was an equal quality to Sasuke.

"Choji."

Choji lasted almost as long as Sakura and it was perfect in every detail except he was the same size as before.

"Shikamaru."

Shikamaru was completely flawless, but it appeared that he became bored or something because he let it fall after only a couple seconds. Iruka shook his head in disappointment at Shikamaru's laziness.

"Kiba."

Kiba wasn't very successful at all. He stayed the same size, had the same face and features; the only difference was that his clothes turned into the Jōnin level uniform. The illusion fell after a small handful of seconds, and he looked very disappointed.

"…Naruto."

Everybody was watching Naruto intently, waiting to see if he would stuff up or not. No one had ever failed their third year in the Academy, but if Naruto failed his three jutsus, history would have been made.

He scrunched up his face in concentration, and there was a puff of smoke that disappeared to reveal a very naked female version of Naruto. Tanira looked away quickly and mentally shouted obscene words at her brother. This was no time to be messing around.

"Tanira." Iruka sighed after Naruto had eventually turned back to normal. Everyone's attention switched to the other sibling, who was busy making the hand signs for the Transformation jutsu.

She made sure to transform into a version of Iruka that was perfect in every way except the height, and she held it for a fraction shorter than Sasuke before releasing it and pretending to pant like it took a lot out of her.

'Good acting. You're getting much more proficient at keeping up a disguise; a very good Shinobi skill to have.' The voice in Tanira's head praised, and she smiled.

"Hinata."

Hinata looked up in surprise, even though it was obvious she was next. The poor girl was so nervous that she fumbled the hand signs the first time and had to try again before she became an absolutely spot on Iruka. She was trembling so much though that it only lasted a little over a second.

"And last but certainly not least, Shino."

Ah, the bug boy. Most people found him disgusting, but Tanira just found the Aburame interesting. Such dedication to your clan to allow yourself to be the home of thousands of little bugs; In Shino's case, the bugs were Kakaichu.

His face was unreadable under the sunglasses and high collared jacket, but if Tanira knew it would be one of deep concentration. A second later and there was another flawless Iruka standing where Shino was. A couple seconds later though, Shino's illusion fell and the sunglasses were back again.

Iruka was smiling very widely when everyone was finished.

"And now it's time for the next jutsu! I want you to create another you; that's right, I'm asking for one clone. So let's go through everyone again. Sasuke, you're up first." Iruka instructed and Sasuke was quick to create a copy of himself that glared at everyone and disappeared again.

"Sakura… Ino… Choji… Shikamaru… Kiba… Naruto…"

Everyone successfully created a second clone until it reached Naruto. Once again he scrunched up his face in concentration, but could only summon a dazed, colourless clone that was lying on the floor. The whole class laughed and Iruka glared at Naruto.

"Naruto! You still can't do a simple Clone technique? Haven't you been practising at home? Have you learned absolutely nothing in your three years at the Academy? Nothing at all?" it was clear Iruka was struggling not to yell at Naruto.

He shook his head and took a few deep breaths before continuing down the line. "Tanira."

Tanira concentrated and made the hand signs, making absolute sure that she whispered clone jutsu, and not shadow clone jutsu. She smiled a little when an identical her appeared next to her, frowning a little at everybody before disappearing a second later.

"Hinata… Shino…" soon they were on the last jutsu and everyone who had done pretty well so far was excited and a little more confident than before they had started.

"So as a sort of finale to this segment of the exam, I'd like you all to use the Replacement technique and replace yourself with your chair that you used this year. Yes, I want you all to do it at the exact same time. Ready? Go!"

There were puffs of smoke appearing in the line, and when it eventually cleared, everyone was standing at their own desk, and where they were before there sat a line of ten wooden stools. Thank goodness Naruto had the decency to get one jutsu correct.

"Right, everybody! Take your chairs back to your desks, and I will give you your examination paper. You will have an hour to answer all fifty questions, and at the end of the exam I will collect the papers at the end of the hour.

For those little smart ninjas, if you finish early you may hand in your paper to me and head outside for some kunai practice, where I will be able to observe you from the window in this classroom."

Iruka-sensei handed out the test papers when the class was seated again, and he yelled go. Tanira turned the first page, ran her gaze over the questions, and quickly filled in the bubbles; some of the answers she put, she knew was wrong. Tanira had to be careful.

Sakura was the first to hand in her test and leave the room. Sasuke was second, followed quickly by Ino. Tanira decided it would be a good time to hand in her own paper which she had finished a very long time ago, and go outside and pretend to have trouble with her kunai practice.

With a knowing look from Iruka, Tanira handed in her paper and went outside and leaned against the wall of the Academy, thinking about many things and conversing with the voice in her head as she absent-mindedly watched the others practice.

Half an hour later, Tanira had cleared up many of her questions and Iruka had just come outside with the rest of the class trailing behind him. He stopped in the middle of the clearing and cleared his voice.

"Welcome to the last test for the year. When you finish your turn, you can go home unless I indicate otherwise. Come back at seven pm please and meet in the classroom. Now, this test is one we did back at the start of the year.

All you have to do is hit those three targets as close to the bullseye as you can. The only difference is that this time you don't have a spare kunai, so use them wisely. This is a bit more like a battle situation now. Good luck to you all and you may now line up." Iruka gave a brief speech and everyone shuffled into a rough line.

He handed the three kunai to Naruto who had somehow managed to be at the front of the line. Tanira's brother threw the first kunai which hit the first target by an inch, and the test had started.

Students talked animatedly to each other about who they were hoping to be grouped with when they became Genin. Ino and Sakura argued over who got to be in Sasuke's group, whilst Naruto and his gang were hoping that they'd be the group of four.

Naruto was apparently still infatuated deeply with Sakura, for some strange unknown reason, and Hinata still seemed to blush heavily whenever Naruto walked near her. Shino was as calm and collected as always, and Sasuke was busy watching whoever was throwing the kunai.

It was soon Tanira's turn, and she decided there was no harm in letting the kunai hit the bullseyes in all three targets. With a careful aim, she threw the three kunai and watched with satisfaction as they hit each bullseye.

"You can go home now. Good job, Tanira, and I will see you at seven. Please don't be late." Iruka informed her and she nodded to him and started walking home.

**Oooooooooooooooooooh. Did Naruto get through? We shall see in the next chapter ;)**

**Please review! It won't be painful at all, I promise :)**


	6. How to Graduate When You Fail Academy

**Chapter Five: How to Graduate When You Fail the Academy**

"You look fine Naruto, come on. Otherwise we're going to be really late, and we'll both get in a lot of trouble." Tanira tugged on her brother's jacket and he grumbled before running his hand through his hair one last time. He turned to face her.

"Okay, Tani! You ready? Then let's gooo!" he jumped out the room and had disappeared before Tanira could say yes. She shook her head and followed Naruto out the door, closing it firmly behind her.

They were shortly joined on their walk by Shikamaru, Kiba, Akamaru and Choji, and Naruto talked animatedly with them for the rest of the way about how he was certain he had passed this year. The others laughed, remembering his disastrous attempt at the Clone technique; he was probably going to be held back yet another year.

The small group of students arrived at the Academy a couple minutes late, and Iruka ran up to them.

"You're late, but never mind that now, just go and line up with the other students; except you, Naruto. Can I speak with you privately?" he shooed the rest of them away leaving the spiky, blonde-haired boy with Iruka, looking incredibly nervous and constantly fidgeting.

Tanira found her spot in the alphabetically ordered line and found herself standing next to Sasuke. Tanira decided that if she was to make even one friend from her Academy, that it should be Sasuke.

"Hello, Uchiha. How are you?" she said with a fake smile fixed on her face. He turned and glared at Tanira.

"Just because I told you what really happened doesn't mean I want to, or will be your friend." He replied coldy, but Tanira kept the smile fixed on her face.

"Oh, I'm not seeking to be friends. Merely acquaintances, if you will. First name terms, maybe. The ability to join in alliance without fuss, but have no emotional ties between us." Tanira explained, and she would've sworn that he smiled.

"I have to admit, I like the way you think. It would be beneficial for you, certainly, but how would it be even a little beneficial for me?" he inquired, narrowing his eyes. Tanira had to refrain from choking him due to his arrogance and big head.

"Oh, believe me. You will be greatly more benefited than I. If you are interested, I will meet you at Training Ground 3 at midnight tomorrow. I will show you my true power, and then you can decide if you wish to become acquaintances."

Sasuke, clearly suspicious, nodded tersely and turned his attention back to the other students. Tanira let the smile on her face fade, but actually felt quite satisfied with Sasuke. He could come; she knew he would. He was too curious and power-hungry for his own good.

Naruto walked glumly up to Tanira, a sad smile plastered on his face.

"Tani, I… I didn't pass the exam; again. Tani, I am going to be the first Shinobi in the entire history of Konoha to repeat the Academy four times. You're so lucky to be passing, but I'll see you later. I can't bear to hang around any longer." He stared at the other Academy students and sighed.

Feeling just a little bit guilty, Tanira mentally rolled her eyes and hugged her brother tightly. He wrapped his arms around her and picked her up, spinning her around. A laugh escaped her and Naruto's eyes lit up.

"I don't want to make your evening unhappy. You go and feel happy for yourself when you get your headband, alright? And we can decide later where you want to wear it. I'll see you after the ceremony, little sis. I've got… I… have something important to do." Tanira frowned a little at the last sentence, but her brother was gone before she could squeeze in a word.

"That boy… What is he up to now? He is such an idiot. No wonder he keeps failing every year." She muttered and heard Sasuke actually laugh beside her, even if he squashed it as soon as it got out. Wouldn't want the stoic Sasuke getting the giggles now, would we?

Soon it was half past seven, and time for the headbands to be handed out. Iruka had all nine resting on one arm, and he walked over to the first student in the line; Shino the bug boy. If it was possible to see his face, it was obvious that it would be lit up like fireworks as he received his headband and shook Iruka-sensei's hand.

Iruka moved down the line slowly, taking his time to speak with the new Genins and giving them advice or congratulations. Eventually it reached Sasuke and the Uchiha kept a straight face as he was handed his headband.

"Congratulations, Sasuke. You are a very promising young Shinobi. I am sure you'll do something great when you're all grown up." Iruka-sensei smiled and moved to stand in front of Tanira. The smile was, if possible, even bigger than before.

He handed Tanira her headband and she shook his hand, a true smile on her face. She was officially a Genin and a step closer to growing more powerful.

"Now listen here Tanira. I have not told anyone what happened on the first day; that is a secret that I will, rather regrettably, probably keep for a very long time." As Iruka started speaking, Tanira could sense both Ino and Sasuke, who were right next to Tanira, leaning in a little bit, listening attentively.

"I know you are destined for a greatness that will surpass all other Shinobi that have passed through this village. I don't know why you're hiding all that inside of you, but whatever your reasoning is, I am proud to have mentored such a fine student.

"And tell Naruto, wherever he's gone; that he is to talk to me as soon as he can. I want to see what I can do so that he can become a Genin." Tanira nodded and Iruka moved on to Ino.

Soon everyone had received their headband, and Iruka bowed. The families and friends that were watching started clapping, and when Iruka-sensei stood back upright, he spoke to the new Genins.

"Congratulations to all nine of you. You will have one week off, and then I expect to see all of you exactly a week from now, at midday, so we can organise the groups that you are going to be in for the rest of your time as a Genin. Once again, congratulations, and you may now go."

Most of the Genins ran off to their parents, chattering excitedly and moving their headband everywhere, trying to find a place to secure it. Tanira, meanwhile, was quick to fasten it to her head, the way it was traditionally worn, and ran off in search of Naruto.

She reasoned that the first place to try would be their apartment. But when she reached it, the door was locked, which meant that nobody was home. Frowning, she racked her brain for where he might be.

When Naruto was upset, he was known to often practise his Shinobi skills in one of the training areas. Tanira decided to look at the training areas; the one nearest the apartment was first.

Tanira smiled in relief when she saw a certain brother sitting in the clearing. She frowned when she saw that he was reading a large, anonymous scroll intently, and Tanira frowned even more when he stood up, put the scroll aside, and summoned several clones.

'The multiple shadow clone technique. That must be the Scroll of Seals he's been reading. As far as I know, that's the only scroll with that technique in it. But why does he have it?' the voice said, and Tanira grew interested.

Everyone had heard of that scroll; but it was locked in a high security case in the Hokage's office and had been so for years. How then, had Naruto gotten his hands on it? And why did he have it at all? Well, she reasoned, perhaps he was asked to get it by someone else.

The person who would've asked him must be a leaf village Shinobi, as none of the other villages knew where it was. That also meant that this ninja was either a spy or someone about to go traitor. Tanira had a strangely overwhelming urge to meet this man.

She decided to go to Naruto and see if she could learn any of the techniques in the scroll of sealing; after all, if she could learn how to perform jutsus just by watching people do it, perhaps she could do it just by reading about them, too.

Just as she was about to leave her hiding place and talk to her brother, Iruka-sensei appeared with a big frown on his face.

"So you're the one who took the scroll? Why? Do you know how dangerous this scroll is?" Iruka scolded, and Naruto seemed to shrink a little in fear.

"Sorry Iruka-sensei. Someone told me that I would become a ninja if I mastered one of the techniques in the scroll."

"What? Someone told you this? Oh, Naruto. You can't become a ninja this way. Who told you this? Do you know his name, or what he looked like?"

"I don't know his name, but… oh, he's right there." Tanira and Iruka-sensei turned to see where Naruto was pointing. Sure enough there was a white-haired leaf village Shinobi grinning maniacally from where he stood.

"Good boy, Naruto. Now, hand over that scroll and you'll be a Genin." The man said, but Naruto stayed where he was.

"Mizuki? You're the one who did this? Why? Naruto. Do not trust this man. Hand me the scroll and we can sort this mess out." Iruka said, surprise and concern on his face.

"Naruto. Don't trust Iruka. He's not your friend! He hates you for all that you are, just like the rest of the village! Do you want to know why they hate you, Naruto?" Mizuki was clearly trying to get Naruto to lose his trust in Iruka-sensei.

Tanira was curious to see Naruto's reaction when he found out that he was the Jinchūriki . She didn't really care about who got the scroll. She only wanted to find out and then leave.

"Naruto, don't listen to him! I'm your friend. All of Konoha is your friend. He's just using you for his own selfish purposes!" Iruka practically yelled, and Naruto jumped in surprise.

"Naruto. Ten years ago, when you were only little, a giant beast attacked Konoha. It was fierce, and strong, and nobody could defeat it. Everyone was sure the village was doomed, but then the fourth Hokage defeated the beast, which was called the nine-tailed fox, by sealing its spirit inside a baby.

"And that baby is you, Naruto. You have the spirit of the nine-tailed fox inside of you. It's why everyone fears you. It's why Iruka won't let you pass the exam. He fears that you'll go wild and wreak havoc on the village; they all fear that.

"Give me the scroll, Naruto, and I'll be your friend. I can help you get revenge on all of Konoha too, if you want." Mizuki held out his hand as Naruto stood frozen in complete and utter shock. It was just as Tanira expected.

'The nine-tailed fox almost destroyed the village. Everyone should love you two, but instead they hate you. It's so sad that they do that. It's their fault. When the Kyuubi is finally able to use his power, the Uzumaki child will be unstoppable.'

"Iruka hates you the most. The nine-tailed fox that lives in you killed his parents and now he seeks to get revenge."

"That's not true, Naruto. I don't blame you for the death of my parents, even though I did at first. I know what it's like to grow up without parents. I was even a prankster myself, much like you are. I know what it's like.

"You aren't alone Naruto; you have friends and a sister and lots of people who care about you. This person here is just using you. Believe me, Naruto, please." Iruka pleaded and Naruto smiled.

"Okay, I believe you."

"No, you fool! Give me the scroll!" Mizuki yelled and leapt from his position towards the two. Laughing manically, he grabbed a large shuriken and launched it at Naruto. Naruto crawled up in a tight ball, obviously too scared to move, and waited for his end.

Tanira let out a small gasp and quickly covered her mouth. Iruka had jumped in front of Naruto and protected him from the attack. Iruka told him something and Naruto nodded and stood up, staring Mizuki in the eyes.

"Don't lay a hand on my sensei. Multiple shadow clone jutsu!" he yelled, did the familiar hand signs and hundreds of shadow clones appeared. Mizuki paled visibly whilst Iruka just stared in amazement at the sheer number of Narutos.

Tanira was slightly impressed. She really hadn't thought her brother had that much potential, since he mucked around so often in class. She grew a lot less impressed, though, when they all used the sexy jutsu that Naruto had 'invented'.

She closed her eyes in disgust but stifled a giggle when she heard Mizuki faint. After a couple minutes, she was confident that Naruto would not still be performing the jutsu, and Tanira was correct. In fact, her brother was now nowhere in sight.


	7. Welcome to Team Seven!

**Sorry it took so long to upload. This time I wouldn't let myself post another chappie until I finished writing chapter eleven. And I did it! So proud ^_^  
**

**So here's chapter six! Please review!  
**

**Chapter Six: Welcome to Team Seven!**

Naruto was practically jumping around the apartment, and it was a mess. Pillows were everywhere, the quilt was on the floor, there were countless empty containers of ramen and several empty milk bottles.

"Hey Tani! We get assigned our teams today! Tani, Tani, Tani! We get our teams! Tani! I want to be with Sakura! Tani, isn't Sakura pretty? Tani! Don't you hate Sasuke! Man that would be such bad luck if we got in the same team as that show-off, dattebayo!"

Tanira rolled her eyes and double checked that she had everything, include her small supply of Shinobi weapons that they had been given on their last day at the Academy. She tied her hair into the usual two ponytails and fastened her headband to her forehead.

"Come on, Naruto. We're going to be late if you keep jumping around the apartment like this." Tanira sighed and walked out the door, leaving Naruto behind. She had no desire to be held up by that idiot.

She strolled towards the Academy, taking her time and breathing in the warm spring air. She paused when her stomach growled loudly, and Tanira realised she had forgotten breakfast. She looked in her wallet and was happy to see there was just enough to buy herself a packet of chips.

She entered the grocer's store and walked straight to the aisle that contained the chips. After a brief examination, she grabbed a packet, paid for it and left the store.

Tanira ate the chips slowly as she picked up the pace a bit. A couple minutes later she was standing in front of the Academy, among eight other Genin. Naruto wasn't here yet, then. Looking around, she walked up to Sasuke and smiled.

"I apologise that we couldn't organise a time. If we are in the same team, then perhaps I can show you later." Sasuke snorted and turned to face Tanira.

"You're determined about this, aren't you? No matter. I'll do what you say. If we are placed in the same team, then in the small break between being assigned our team, and meeting up with our sensei, I'll go with you." They exchanged small nods and ignored each other for the next ten minutes, until the Academy doors opened.

The ten Genin – Naruto had arrived with less than a minute to spare – walked into their old classroom and sat in their old seats. When Tanira saw Iruka-sensei was standing at the front of the classroom holding a clipboard, she smiled a little. She was glad that he was the one telling the Genins which team they were being placed in.

"Good morning class. Let's start. Now, when I call your name, I would like you to stand up and move next to the other two members of your new team. Now, there is one group that I have put four Genin in, as there were an uneven number of graduates this year.

"We'll start with the group of four…

"Team Seven is Naruto, Sakura," Naruto stood up and cheered, whilst Sakura banged her head on the table. "Sasuke," this time Naruto banged his head on the table and Sakura stood up and cheered. "and Tanira." There was no reaction except two pairs of eyes meeting in recognition. So Tanira was going to reveal her powers, then.

"Okay, Team Seven. If you could all come back to the classroom in half an hour, you can meet your sensei. Thanks!" Iruka smiled, nodded almost imperceptibly towards Tanira, and the four new members of team seven left the room.

"I'll be right back, okay? I'll meet you guys here when the time's up." Tanira said, looked quickly at Sasuke, smiled at Naruto, and completely ignored Sakura, and left the building.

"I have to go too." Sasuke drawled and also left the Academy building.'

"So I guess it's just you and me, eh Saku-"

"Not a chance Naruto! Sasuke! Wait for me!" and then there was one.

"Well, I guess I could try out my new idea for a prank…" and Naruto was off giggling like a three year old.

Sakura smiled dreamily at Sasuke as he entered the Academy room behind Tanira. Tanira rolled her eyes and sat in her usual seat as she waited for team 7's sensei to appear. Naruto, meanwhile, was setting up a 'trap' for the sensei by the door.

Didn't he know that it wouldn't work? Their sensei was going to be a Jōnin; one of the best Shinobi in the village. The only way the prank would work is if their new sensei had a sense of humour. Time would only tell.

It was nearly an hour later before Tanira heard the extremely quiet footsteps of someone walking down the corridor. It was obvious that they were attempting to be quiet, but so far no one has managed to even get within a meter of Tanira without her knowing it.

The door slid open and Naruto laughed loudly as the eraser for the blackboard fell on top of the shinobi's head. So, it meant that their sensei had a sense of humour. Sakura started apologising as the white-haired Shinobi looked into the room.

"Hmm… How can I put this?" the sensei said, and the four of them listened intently to what he would say next.

"My first impression of this group; you're a bunch of idiots." Three faces screwed up in annoyance, whilst Tanira sat at the back expressionless. Inside her mind, Tanira was trying desperately to figure out where she had seen this Jōnin before

Then it hit her. This Shinobi trained in Area Five almost every single day, and Tanira knew that he had a very wide variety of jutsu; almost as much as herself.

It had been said that there was a man in Konoha that was nicknamed 'the Copy Ninja', who knew over a thousand jutsus and could copy all of his opponents' moves perfectly. His name was Hatake Kakashi.

"Oh, hello there, in the back. I didn't see you." He smiled and waved at Tanira, and she almost forgot to wave back.

"Good day, sensei." Tanira said cheerfully and smiled.

"I have to admit that it's rather unusual to have a four-cell Genin team, but that's okay. That will just make things more… Interesting, shall we say." Naruto narrowed his eyes at 'interesting', but kept quiet, while the other three exchanged wondering glances.

Later that day, the four Genin were sitting on the steps of a roof garden, listening to Kakashi talk.

"Alright, why don't you introduce yourselves, one at a time."

"Introduce ourselves? Well, what are we supposed to say?" Sakura asked.

"Things you like, things you hate, dreams for the future, hobbies; things like that."

"Why don't you tell us stuff first? I mean, before we talk, tell us about you, so we can see how it's supposed to work." Naruto piped up.

"Me? I'm Hatake Kakashi. Things I like, and things I hate… Well I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future… Never really thought about it. As for my hobbies, I have lots of hobbies." Kakashi vaguely answered, and Sakura and Naruto groaned.

"Well, that was a complete waste of time. All he really told us was his name." Sakura grumbled, and Naruto nodded in agreement.

"Alright, your turn. You on the right first." Kakashi gestured to Naruto.

"Believe it! I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like instant ramen in a cup, and I really like the ramen Iruka sensei got me at the Ichiraku noodle shop! But I hate the three minutes you have to wait after you pour water into the ramen cup.

"My hobby is eating different kinds of ramen and comparing them, and my future dream is to be the greatest Hokage! Then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and my sister, and start treating us like we're somebody important!"

Tanira edged a little further to the left of the group, desperate to get as much distance between herself and her brother as possible. Sometimes he was such an embarrassment.

Seriously, no one could be that obsessed with food. But, knowing her brother, someone was. Tanira only wished he didn't decide to mention her!

"Alright, next." Kakashi sighed after a couple moments.

"I'm Haruno Sakura. What I like, uh… I mean the person I like is…" Sakura glanced at Sasuke and sighed dreamily. "Uh, my hobby is, uh… My dream for the future is…" and she squealed loudly getting a raised eyebrow from Kakashi.

He obviously didn't think very highly of Sakura's infatuations with the Uchiha.

"And? What do you hate?" he prompted, and Sakura looked up, distracted.

"Naruto!" she almost yelled, which caused Naruto to burst into angry tears. Tanira slowly shook her head and watched as the two fought, yet again.

"Next one." He indicated to Sasuke.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything. What I have, is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan, and destroy a certain someone." The silence following Sasuke's response was almost unbearable.

Tanira smiled grimly as she remembered her talk with Sasuke about the death of his clan, and she could recall how his eyes burned with a deep hatred for his brother. Naruto however, seemed to think that the 'certain someone' that Sasuke mentioned was himself.

"Well, that was… Cheerful. Last one."

"My name is Uzumaki Tanira. I enjoy…" Tanira paused. What did girls her age adore? Shopping? Boys? Playing with dolls? "I enjoy reading, among other things, and I hate the villagers that pick on me and my brother.

"What did we ever do to deserve this treatment? I don't have many hobbies. Mostly I'm reading, or lying in a meadow and thinking about lots of things. My dream is to have equality, if only in Konoha." Tanira finished quietly, calming the furious anger that rose when she mentioned the villagers.

Sasuke, who had been staring off into the distance, watched Tanira as she talked. Earlier that day she had shown him just how much power she possessed, and he had to admit that she was a very skilled Shinobi, and at such a young age. It was almost frightening how excelled she was.

"Good. You're each unique, and you have your own ideas. We'll have our first mission tomorrow." Kakashi said.

"What kind of mission are we going to have?" Naruto asked.

"It's a task that the five of us will do together."

"What, what, what, what?" Naruto jumped up and down eagerly.

"A survival exercise."

Tanira's attention drifted, and she started thinking about all of the villagers in Konoha chasing her and Naruto down an empty street, yelling curse words and throwing things. They were shouting 'tailed beast freak, tailed beast freak!' and then her brother was killed; hit by an explosive kunai.

A Shinobi that resembled Kakashi stood up straight and reached into his pocket for another kunai, but before he could do anything, Tanira felt a strange surge in her chakra and could almost taste the colour red. It was beautiful.

"We will meet in training area nine at noon tomorrow. Goodbye and good luck, Sakura, Sasuke, Tanira, Naruto." Kakashi's voice interrupted Tanira's daydream, and she was quite unhappy, because that red chakra felt amazing and ridiculously powerful.

With a puff of smoke, Kakashi had disappeared from the roof top, leaving the four Genin by themselves. Tanira stood up and turned to the training area near her home.

"I am going to train for a while. I will see you back home at sunset, brother." She smiled at Naruto, nodded briefly towards Sasuke, completely ignored Sakura, and too, vanished in a puff of smoke. Naruto ruffled his hair and laughed a little.

"She does that a lot. You'll get used to it after a while."

"Well she's a lot different than what I expected. What do you think, Sasuke? She's weird, isn't she?"

"I don't really care. As long as she's a good Shinobi, her personality does not matter to me." Sasuke muttered before standing up and leaping to the next rooftop, back towards the Uchiha village.

"So, Sakura…" Naruto nervously started.

"That's gross, Naruto. Stop asking already!" Sakura interrupted and ran off the other direction.

**A/N: I actually watched this episode and kept it as close to the real deal as possible. However, this is the only chappie I've done that with. It took too long and I have no desire to do it again, so if there are certain moments that shouldn't really change but did quite a bit, that's because I did no research into those bits. I just had my mind to help me!**

**Please review! Pretty please? With Gaaras on top? Or maybe Minatos. OR BOTH! ^_^  
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**Thanks to all who have reviewed, favourited and followed so far:  
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**MichiyoYuki (special thanks for the reviews and favourite as well as the follow! ^_^)  
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**Ta ta and look out for the next chapter :)  
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**~ Cypren Uzumaki  
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	8. The Survival Test

**Hullo! I finally finished the next chapter, so as a reward, here's the next chappie! :D :D**

**Sorry it took me a while to do. I have so much homework it's not even funny anymore -_-**

**Anyways, here it is, so please read and review. I'd love it!**

**Chapter Seven: The Survival Test**

Tanira sat at the kitchen table and quietly ate a bowl of ramen. She would've much rather have eaten an apple or at least something slightly healthier than ramen, but there wasn't anything else. When Tanira finished, she disposed all remains of her breakfast, remembering that Kakashi ordered them not to eat breakfast.

Tanira well and truly knew that the test would not be so difficult that they would puke, but rather that part of the test was seeing how well they would perform on an empty stomach. Kakashi was quite clever and took full advantage of those around him, using his words to twist someone's will.

It was a very nifty skill to have; but it was not a jutsu, so Tanira had to learn it by observing him; getting close to him yet making sure he did not grow suspicious with her actions.

The only problem was that she was not a very… charismatic, sociable person. However, she needed this skill more than most of her others in order to succeed in her future plans.

After she threw on her clothes and tied her headband to her forehead, she heard the large, booming footsteps of her brother finally getting up, ten minutes before they had to be at the training area. He was really pushing it.

Well, she wasn't going to wait for him. Instead, before he noticed Tanira was there, she grabbed her weapons pouch and leapt out of the window, towards the rising sun. It looked like it was to be a beautiful day for training.

Good morning, Cur. Are you ready for the test? Tanira thought, sensing the voice inside her waking up.

'Hello. I'll be right with you, offering all of my attention and strategies; well, not that you'll need my strategies to win this. I do not know what the test will be, but it will not be as it seems. Look for a second, seemingly hidden goal in whatever test he gives you.'

Tanira mentally nodded and smiled slightly. This sounded like it was going to be fun; it had been a while since she had to actually use her brain.

I think I'll hide in the tree nearby. I wonder how long it will take for them to notice me. Now, should I hide my chakra? Or should I be nice? Tanira thought.

'Don't hide it. Kakashi might get suspicious if you do, because at some point you'll have to show yourself so that you four Genin can start the test.'

That's true. But sometimes… I don't like hiding my gifts. I hated it enough during the academy, and now I have to hide it as a Genin. It's so unfair! Tanira quietly protested as she arrived at her chosen tree.

'Never mind that now. You'll know when it's the right time to release your mask. Don't use every chance you see come along. Naruto does that and see what he's like and how unsuccessful he's been?'

There's Sasuke… Early as expected. Sakura should be coming along any minute now, surely looking for a chance to be alone with Sasuke. Seriously, she should know when to give up!

'Is someone getting a little jealous, now?' Tanira could practically hear the voice raising an eyebrow and she widened her eyes.

Don't be so unintelligent! I could disrupt the flow of the group if I made any drastic moves on Sasuke. The team's coordination will be practically abolished, and we will fall apart. I don't like him, and nor am I jealous; I am simply concerned for the health of the team if this farce continued.

'Well, for not being jealous, I would've sworn you got a small blush to your cheeks during your overheated thought just then.'

Shut up! Tanira growled, and the voice fell silent with a grunt.

Sakura arrived a couple seconds later, and as predicted, starting chatting up Sasuke and flirting desperately with the poor raven haired boy.

Surprisingly, Naruto arrived before the sensei. In fact, they all arrived, although the other three still hadn't noticed Tanira's presence, nearly three hours before Kakashi.

The silver haired Jōnin slowly approached the three Genins with a sheepish look on his face.

"Sorry guys, I was visiting an old friend of mine and must have lost track of time. I promise I won't be late again." Kakashi excused, and Sakura very visibly rolled her eyes.

"Now, your test is… Wait. Doesn't this team have four members? Where is your sister, Naruto? Why hasn't she come down from the tree yet?"

Naruto jumped a little at the mention of Tanira and quickly looked around him.

"The tree? There's lots of trees here, sensei. How do you know she's in a tree?" Sakura asked, also looking around, trying to find Tanira.

"Her chakra signature. Since you are all Genins, I doubt any of you know how to hide your chakra signature yet. Come down and meet with your team mates, Tanira. I know you can hear us."

Well, no better time to appear. Maybe I'll use yellow flash's technique. Or maybe I'll—

'Just jump down from the tree. What's up with you today? You are not normally fond of showing off.'

I know, I know. Tanira fixed a proud grin on her face and jumped down from the tree, right behind Naruto.

"Boo!" she whispered in his ear and he must have jumped several meters in the air. She always had a knack of sneaking up on Naruto and scaring the living daylights out of him.

"Oh my goodness, Tani. Try not to give me a freaking heart attack, okay!" Tanira laughed and patted her brother's shoulder.

"You always fall for that. Every, single, time." Naruto stuck his tongue out, and then everyone turned their attention to Kakashi sensei.

"Well now that all of the drama is out of the way, I can finally explain what your test will be. And I'm just letting you know now; no one in all of my years of teaching has passed this test and become a Genin. So, good luck to you all.

"Now, here in my hand I have three small bells attached to some string." Kakashi held out his hand, and there sat three shining, twinkling bells. "Your objective will be to get these bells off of me, any way that you can. You have until noon, and then if you haven't got a bell, you fail.

"Now, here are some rules. You can only grab one bell. If you grab more, give one back to me and under no circumstance are you allowed to give bells to your team mates. This is, of course, assuming someone can actually even touch the bells, let along take them off me.

"Other than that, feel free to try anything." With a wink and a clothed smile, Kakashi leapt away from the four Genins, and his voiced echoed around the training area. "Go!"

Three of the Genins immediately moved away. Sasuke and Sakura hid, whilst the naïve Naruto charged directly at Kakashi. Seriously, would he ever learn that head-on attacks won't work against most Shinobi?

Naruto threw a punch at Kakashi, but the sensei merely stepped to the side and blocked the next punch that Naruto threw at him. He decided to show off a bit and pulled out a not very child appropriate book, reading it while Naruto attacked over and over again.

Naruto gave an enraged yell and summoned several clones, before charging again at Kakashi. It was a slightly better strategy, but it was still nowhere near good enough the defeat sensei. He hit every clone, causing them to disappear, leaving a lonely Naruto still charging at Kakashi.

With a sigh, Kakashi put down his book, yelled "A thousand years of pain!" and proceeded to stick his fingers up Naruto's behind. Great; they had an immature child as their sensei, and just when Tanira was starting to respect the silver haired man.

Naruto cried and flew through the air, falling into the lake. Kakashi disappeared in a poof of smoke, presumably to Sasuke or Sakura. Meanwhile, Tanira pooled her chakra to her feet sub consciously, and walked up to the top of a nearby tree so she could find her bearings, and hopefully Kakashi.

She soon spotted some commotion going on to her right; knowing that Sakura was too weak in both mind and body to put up such a fight, and that Naruto was just hopeless, Tanira knew it was Sasuke's turn.

She decided to go and observe those two, figuring that perhaps there will be some new techniques for her to absorb and perfect.

'Just remember that you do not have lightning chakra nature, so you cannot use any lightning nature jutsu that Kakashi does.'

It's a shame, as its such an incredible nature. But I can't complain with having the other four, and the rarest nature is my strongest one.

The voice seemed to nod, and Tanira started leaping from tree to tree in the general direction of the battle. She was just in time to see Sasuke make the hand signs horse, ram, and then raise his fingers to his lips and breathing a giant fireball, which in all its glory, Kakashi stilled dodged seemingly effortlessly.

Sensei then used an earth technique which Tanira had learned a while ago, and trapped Sasuke in the earth.

"You have promise. No student has managed to touch a bell before; consider yourself quite lucky. But then, I guess that I should expect no less from an Uchiha, should I?" Sensei gave Sasuke a big thumbs up and headed back towards the edge of the training area.

Deciding that dealing with Sakura would not take long, Tanira followed him for a small distance, and then jumped to the ground and waited for her turn to strike. But she wasn't sure what to do; how easy to make it for Kakashi, and just how much of her mask to strip away.

'Well, what would your mask do? What is she capable of? Would she beat Kakashi and get a bell? No. Would she even stand a chance against him? Probably not. She would only know the basic techniques taught in the Academy, and she would not know that nifty multiple shadow clone technique.'

The voice was correct. The mask that she built up was quite vulnerable and would stand no chance against an esteemed Shinobi such as Kakashi. This will be fun, Tanira thought, as she finally sensed Kakashi heading her way.

What surprised Tanira was that when Kakashi appeared was that he had put his book away. Surely he had not figured her out? Surely she was still safe.

'I'm positive that he knows nothing. But it would be best to take some extra precautionary measures, just in case. Try not to use any jutsu. He doesn't know anything, so Taijutsu is probably your best shot at getting the bells.'

But I'm not very skilled at Taijutsu. That is one of the traits me and my mask share! So—Oh, I see. Never mind. Tanira told the voice, and pretended to be distracted, inwardly smirking as it made Kakashi confused.

"Aren't you going to attack? You only have ten minutes before noon, so I would hurry if I were you." Kakashi frowned a little and grabbed his book out of his pouch, turning to about halfway through and starting to read.

"But… I'm not that good… Um, alright then? Um, I'm going, now." Tanira stammered and sprinted towards Kakashi. Kakashi sighed a little and blocked Tanira.

"Your fighting style is so similar to your brother's. Sloppy, simple and idiotic. Shame. I was looking forward to—" Tanira vanished in a puff of smoke. It was a clone then. Kakashi smiled and put his book back in his bag. "That's better."

Tanira watched him from her not so discrete hiding spot, trying to look like she had no idea where Kakashi had gone, when in reality she knew he was right behind her. She jumped when a hand landed on her shoulder and pushed her out of the small tree.

"You'll have to try better than that if you want one of the bells." Kakashi smirked, and for some reason Tanira lost her cool a little, allowing a small frown and a crease on her face to form. She wasn't liking Kakashi very much, and she was so tempted to blow her cover and grab a bell before he realised she had even moved.

Tanira took a deep breath instead and counted to five. On one, she created two clones and sent them after Kakashi as a distraction. On two, she lunged towards Kakashi as quietly as she took from behind.

On three, Kakashi swung around, dispatching the clones and hitting a log of wood behind him; a substitution jutsu. On four, Tanira somehow knocked Kakashi to the ground and touched a bell. On five Kakashi flashed away; but not before Tanira snagged a bell.

'What did we say about not showing off?'

Sorry, Tanira responded. I was only using what my mask would've used; it's not my fault he was unprepared and overconfident in his abilities to think he could read a book while fighting me.

'Cool down Tanira! You can't afford to lose your head during a battle; otherwise your mask will slip and you'll become rash.'

Whatever, she retorted, and walked over to Kakashi who was positively beaming from ear to ear, presumably because she got one of the bells.

"Well that was surprising to say the least. Next time, however, I won't let you win so easily, okay? Now, let's go join your fellow team mates. It's noon."

"Um, sensei? Does this mean that they didn't pass? Because they didn't get a bell?" Kakashi stopped and turned to look at her.

"I'm not sure what I'll do. I'll probably pass at minimum, Sasuke, Naruto and yourself. Sakura, I don't know yet. She was less of a challenge than Naruto was, and that's really saying something…"

"I think Sakura should be taught some medical ninjutsu. She is intelligent enough for it, and I know from the academy that she has excellent chakra control. Just suggest it to her, so she can stay in the group. Please?"

Kakashi gave Tanira a fleeting, curious glance before nodded indiscreetly. "Very well. Now go to the others, and I will be there shortly, okay?" Tanira nodded and ran ahead of Kakashi, saluting him as she passed.

'Why do you want Sakura in the team so badly? Didn't you want her gone just a couple of hours ago?'

I know, I know. But for some reason, I think she would be good for the team. Help keep everyone in line, perhaps. I don't know. Tanira replied as she neared the three Genin, her bell ringing loudly for all to hear.

She was so proud of herself.

'You shouldn't be proud. That wasn't your mask fighting, that was you. You slipped and you are so fortunate that you were so not blind that you used ninjutsu.'

**Ta daaa! **

**So what do you think? I know that Tanira's mask wouldn't get the bell, but Tanira herself would. She slips up a bit in this chappie, hopefully you noticed :)**

**So look out for the next chapter! And please read and review. I'll be the happiest girl in the world if you dooooo 3**

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